I fix swimming pools...fiberglass pools are the worst to redo because they are itchy as can be when needing to grind for a resurface. That being said they are great for the consumer. Smoother surface over time as long as water balance is maintained. This is where a salt system helps.

The best advice I can give is keep your water right and your pool will last for a very long time. Neglect a pool for a year or five and that’s when someone like me is called.

All depends on the surface. Water neglect is worse in areas of freeze thaw (like here in Denver) Have you ever tried to water vacuum a pool and have the vacuum on the surface create a cloud even though it has suction. That cloud is the surface starting to disintegrate.

Plaster pools will get rough to the foot, and material will start leaching off pool surface. If you ever clean out the pool filter and water runoff looks more thick in color like skim milk than water. That means you paint and plaster are slowly disintegrating. Or cracks after a freeze thaw where proper winterizing hasn’t occurred.

Vinyl liners get sun spots over time which causes a slow stretch thus thinning the vinyl eventually causing it to leak. This is accelerated with bad water chemistry.

Fiberglass here tends to be covered with epoxy paint. if water gets between paint and fiberglass it will pop and make a bubble. It if chemistry is bad it will cause a fissure that will turn into a bubble. Once epoxy is thin it also leaches into the water. Creating a cloudy pool. Eventually when they are bad enough even the fiberglass gets leaks.

That’s when I come in and prep for new epoxy and grind out, seal cracks, etc. plaster is dustier. Fiberglass when grinding it you get these little slivers of it in your forearms and any exposed skin. Takes about three days to stop itching.

This is where I am this week. 40 year old fiberglass pool on top of a apartment building. Metal, then fiberglass, then white epoxy paint then two different colors of blue. Which tells me this isn’t first time this ones been redone. Darkest blue is what I took off entire pool. Entire surface needs to be scratched for new epoxy primer to adhere to it. Tile first though.

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I agree. On a year round pool with proper chlorine chemistry is the best solution and bang for your buck. However a salt system done right on a seasonal pool with an automatic cover tends to macro out to similar cost over life of pool and it is more set it and forget it than chlorine. (Also depends on size of pool and other factors of course) At least in Denver with it’s shorter season. That is my only market experience.

It’s possible as long as fiberglass isn’t too thin or too bubbled. In my youth I worked on refinishing pools. We would scratch up
Fiberglass pools with grinders (horribly itchy even with the right gear) and then thick coat epoxy paint them.